How the US Antitrust will roar against Amazon for the purchase of MGM studios
Federal Trade Commission to open antitrust investigation into Amazon's takeover of Metro Goldwyn Mayer, which wants to challenge Netflix
In the United States, the spirits about the Mgm studies are heated.
The Federal Trade Commission, the United States government agency that deals with the protection of competition, will examine the acquisition agreement of the film company Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) by Amazon. The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal writes it, based on information received from anonymous sources.
A NEW HEAD AT THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
The news comes a few days after the appointment of Lina Khan as head of the Federal Trade Commission: Khan is known for her critical position against the monopolistic practices of large technology companies and in particular Amazon, to which she dedicated an essay entitled Amazon's Antitrust Paradox .
THE MGM PURCHASE AGREEMENT
In late May, Amazon announced a deal to buy MGM – and its huge catalog of movies and TV series – two examples are the James Bond and Vikings franchises – for $ 8.45 billion. The purchase is aimed at expanding the content offering on the Amazon Prime Video streaming platform and attracting new customers to the detriment of Netflix (especially) and Disney +, its main competitors in the market.
As we explained on Start Magazine , in 2020 Amazon Prime Video subscribers were about 175 million, compared to Netflix's 207 million.
DISNET + AND 21ST CENTURY FOX
In addition to the Federal Trade Commission, antitrust authority in the United States is also entrusted to the Department of Justice of the federal government. The department recently looked into Disney's 2019 acquisition of the media group 21st Century Fox for a sum of $ 71 billion.
WHAT THE FTC WILL DO AGAINST AMAZON
The Wall Street Journal writes that the Federal Trade Commission has secured the right to review the Amazon-MGM deal following negotiations with the Justice Department. It gained jurisdiction over the case because, according to sources, it has already initiated a large antitrust investigation into Amazon's business practices.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice had previously agreed to share investigations into the conduct of large technology companies, or "Big Tech": the department had gone to Apple and Google; to the Facebook commission and, indeed, Amazon.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/stati-uniti-indagine-antitrust-amazon-mgm/ on Wed, 23 Jun 2021 07:40:58 +0000.